The invention relates to a flute body having tone holes and a head piece having a mouth hole, whereby the flute body and head piece are connected to one another by means of tube pieces formed, respectively on the flute body and the head piece, which are insertable into one another, and whereby the flute body and head piece are displaceable relative to one another based on the tube pieces slidingly arranged in one another.
A piccolo with the above-noted features is described in DE 10 2011 010 124 A1, whereby the flue body and head piece are formed to be displaceable to one another by means of respective tube pieces that slide into one another, in order to enable a fine-tuning of the absolute intonation, for example, because of changing temperatures or play. However, this reference contains nothing regarding the manner or structure of the sliding connection between the flute body and head piece.
By using known embodiments of a piccolo, the connection made possible by a displacement of the flute body and head piece to one another is provided, in that on the flute body, an axially projecting, hollow-cylindrical pin with an external cork seal as a tube piece is formed, which has an inner bore for conveyance of the air blown in via the attached head piece. The likewise hollow-cylindrically formed head piece is formed in a section of an inner space facing the flute body to be connected, with an enlarged diameter, in which a pin tube is arranged, which has a smaller outer diameter as the inner diameter of the head piece body, so that an annular chamber is formed between the pin tube and the head piece body. If necessary, inside of the head piece body, a receiving sleeve is arranged about the pin tube to form the annular chamber. The front face of the head piece with the receiving sleeve projects over the front face of the pin tube, so that the pin tube is arranged to be set back relative to this end of the head piece body. The flute body, with its projecting pin, is displaced into the annular chamber formed in the head piece body and displaceably arranged therein also for fine tuning of the pitch, whereby during playing of the piccolo, the air blow into the head piece via the mount hole flows over the pin tube of the head piece and the inner bore connected thereto of the hollow-cylindrical pin located on the flute body, and into the flute body.
It is understood that also with reference to the required sealing, a tighter and also rotationally-secured seat of the head piece on the pin of the flute body can be provided. In this connection, the pin tube and if necessary also the receiving sleeve inserted into the head piece body is fixedly connected with the head piece body, for example, adhered.
A disadvantage connected to known piccolos is that only flute bodies and head pieces of the same manufacturer can be connected to a piccolo, because the individual manufacturers, respectively, use different diameters for the tube pieces that engage in one another on the flute body and head piece. Additionally, with the piccolo, because of the pitch adjustment as well as the respective adaptation of the flute body and head piece relative to the lengths of the tube pieces that engage in one another and because the manufacture therefore uses different lengths, exchange of the flute body and head piece between different manufactures also is not possible.
It has been demonstrated that individual musicians, based on their blowing technique with had pieces of one or more manufacturers may use better harmonically or individually adapted head pieces, so that, however, in view of the tone of the piccolo, definitely prefer flute bodies of another manufacturer. The combination of a head piece originating from one manufacturer or individually manufactured head piece with a flute body originating from a different manufacturer is excluded, however, with known piccolos.